The Gators will open up the 2025 season at No. 4 in the SEC and No. 19 in the country. UF’s rankings come with high expectations as Per Nilsson enters his first season as the Florida head coach.
Photo By: Catherine McCarthy
The Southeastern Conference announced the 2025 preseason poll, putting Florida in the top-5 at No. 4.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—The Southeastern Conference revealed predictions for the 2025 Southeastern Conference women’s tennis title in a vote of the league’s coaches. The preseason poll places the Gators at No. 4 with Georgia at No. 1, Texas at No. 2, and Texas A&M at No. 3.
Georgia earns the 2025 title prediction as they return a large portion of its 2024 roster that took them to the NCAA Championships. Newcomers, Texas take the No. 2 spot with four singles players in the country’s top-100, and Texas A&M places third after winning the 2024 NCAA Championship title. Florida’s No. 4 ranking puts them directly in the mix with the nation’s most elite names in Division I tennis.
Florida’s 2024-25 roster includes No. 3 ranked doubles pair, Rachel Gailis and Alicia Dudeney. The duo advanced to the NCAA final four in November, recording Florida’s furthest NCAA doubles run since 2016. The Gators also welcomed three highly talented freshmen: Nikola Daubnerova, Talia Neilson-Gatenby, and Noémie Oliveras. Neilson-Gatenby enters her first collegiate season with high expectations as she was projected in the nation’s top-10 for newcomers at No. 8 and was ranked overall at No. 122 in the ITA’s fall preseason rankings. UF’s roster is rounded out with seniors Bente Spee, Emily De Oliveira, and sophomore Qavia Lopez.
The new era of Florida women’s tennis begins under the leadership of head coach Per Nilsson this weekend at Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. The annual Florida Invitational is set to start on Saturday, Jan. 11. UF will take on cross-state rivals, Florida State and South Florida with first matches going out at 10:00 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
Full SEC Preseason Poll Results:
Team
- Georgia
- Texas
- Texas A&M
- Florida
- Auburn
- Oklahoma
- Vanderbilt
- LSU
- Tennessee
- South Carolina
- Ole Miss
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Kentucky
- Mississippi State
- Missouri
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